Hey all you holdouts! I've been posting on the new blog now for the last week without linking over from here. This will likely be the last post here, so if you want to know what's going on, make sure to go to the new blog address! You'll be glad you did! Serious. And if you have a link to this blog in your blogroll or somewhere on your webpage or blog could you pretty please change it so it says "Food Storage and Survival" and links to http://foodstorageandsurvival.com ? I'd sure appreciate it! So now you've got that done, come on over to the new location and quit waiting around for more good stuff to be posted here because it's not going to happen--it's all on the new blog site! :)

Hey everyone! Today's the last day to get signed up on my new blog's fantastical giveaways! The giveaways end tonight and you want to get the entry form filled out if you haven't already done it before you start cooking your amazing Valentine's dinner and forget! And get yourself following that blog so you won't miss any more posts! :)

Seriously, y'all--make sure you're subscribed to the new Food Storage and Survival site so you'll get updates when I post something. I won't be linking over from here forever! The post for today was Headlamps are a Glorious Thing. I'm not sure that's grammatically correct mixing plural/singular like that, but it sounded good when I wrote it. Enjoy! :) And tomorrow I'll be on the Dr. Prepper radio show, so be sure to tune in from 12:00-1:00 pm for some good conversation!

If you're one of my subscribers by feed reader and only read this blog in your reader, please go here to subscribe to the new blog location's feed instead: Subscribe to Food Storage and Survival The Adventures in Self Reliance site will no longer be getting posts, only link overs to the posts on the new blog for a while. Then eventually, this site won't get any updates at all--all the action will be on the other site, so you might as well sign up now. :) And if you do subscribe before Feb 14th, you can fill out the prize form to be entered for some really great giveaways.

Well, after some mysterious "database connectivity issues" this morning I think we're good to go. I know you've all been anxiously anticipating this post about the blog changes. But the blog looks the same, you say. So what's the big news? Well, here it is. Starting today, the blog is moving off blogger and onto its own site address--FoodStorageandSurvival.com. This has been in the works for some time and has taken a huge amount of extra effort from my non-technical self, but I'm hoping you'll like the result (and if something isn't right on it, let me know!). And now, I'll have to ask for a little extra effort from you. Because of the change, everything from bookmarks to blogroll links to feed reader subscriptions will need to be changed to keep following my blog. I know it's a pain, but I have rewards lined up! So head on over to the new blog site and get started on the Welcome Giveaways! See you over there! Here's your link:

I'm kind of busy prepping for tomorrow's changes, but here's some more information on what's in store! We have some fabulous giveaways for you all from our fabulous sponsors, including CSN Stores (selling everything from wall art and decor to cookware), Campingsurvival.com, Hometown Seeds, Freeze Dry Guy, Directive 21, and more! And you'll only be required to do a little bit of work to enter--I promise, it won't be hard. Hopefully you'll all be as excited as I am about this! Full details tomorrow . . .

Have any of you ever tried making Essene bread? There are instructions for making it in John Hill's How to Live on Wheat that are copied straight from some ancient text--the same instructions are on this Wikipedia page. I thought I'd try it out and see if it was any good, since those bible folks must have been doing something right to live 900 years, right? So here's how it went, and I'm open to suggestions.

First, you sprout wheat. Mine was sprouted about 12 hours longer than I had originally wanted, but I forgot to stick it in the fridge the night it was done and so it just kept growing. Still good, but maybe it sprouted too much for this project? I don't know. The wikipedia instructions say to sprout it over 4 days and mine was only about 2 1/2 days.

Next, you grind your wheat sprouts. I'm not using two rocks to grind the sprouts into a paste--I don't have that much time or energy, so I used my food processor. It made nice sticky wheat sprout paste in no time.

I formed the dough into balls and smashed them together a few times to knead them. You'll have to wet your hands here--this stuff is really sticky. Then I flattened the balls out on a lightly greased pan to bake. The whole dough is just ground up sprouted wheat. There was no measuring--just however much wheat you have you grind up and make into dough then spread out nice and thin on the pan for baking.

Bake at low heat (150-200 degrees F) for 2 hours or so. Of course, the Essenes baked it in the sun, but it's not a very sunny day, so I put it in the oven. The instructions say when the bottom springs back, it's done. Now here's the problem I had--the bottom never really cooked. The top of the dough disks were cooked and put on a crust, but when the end of the two hours came, I flipped them over and they were gummy on the bottom--like the dough rolled up in blobs on my spatula and stuck all over the pan. Did I need to flip them earlier? I'd probably make them smaller next time to make them more manageable to flip. I also thought of using my pizza pan that has holes in it so the bottom of the crust will bake (kind of like this one)--maybe that would get the bottom to cook. Or maybe the dehydrator would do a better job? Here's the top of one and the bottom of the other right after baking.

So now I'm in a hurry to get this done because I need to leave in about 20 minutes, so I turned the heat up to 350 and put the pan back in with the breads' gummy sides up to try to make it edible. Then I pulled it out when I had to leave and let it sit on the stovetop and cool off and dry out a bit. They turned out very sweet just like the instructions said they would. The instructions in the book also said it would be dense and chewy, which to me is not the same and sticky and gummy. Here it is at bedtime after sitting out the whole afternoon/evening trying to dry a bit--a little better.

Sweet husband broke some up the next morning and made hot cereal with it. He's such a good sport to try out whatever I make--even if it doesn't look so appetizing. I ate some right off the pan. The leftovers went to the chickens. So, any ideas? I'd love to make it work--it's so simple and it's nice to have alternatives, especially when they are as healthy for you as sprouted wheat.

These Survival Situations are so much fun I about can't stand it. I am loving the insight from you all--hopefully you're using the comments and the thinking time to put together some lists and do or acquire something you didn't have before. :) Here's a new one for you inspired by the recent flooding in Australia and Utah's Herriman fire.

You're happily hanging around your house watching MASH re-runs when there comes a knock on your door and the authorities tell you the local dam has developed a leak and your house is in the flood zone. Or a forest fire is heading your way with tremendous speed. Or there's been a chemical spill on the highway nearby. You need to evacuate within the next 30 minutes. Of course sooner is better. They're not sure when/if you'll be able to come back to your house.

What do you do? Where are your family members? Animals? What do you take with you? Where do you go? What's your evacuation plan?

Here's a shoutout to our new advertiser Directive 21! Directive 21 specializes in the Berkey Water filters. They carry a full line of Berkey products from the Stainless Crown Berkey system to the Berkey Light (both of which are gravity fed so you don't have to stand around pumping water) to the portable Berkey Sport Bottle. And most of the items ship free! So if you're looking for a quality product to filter water, Berkey has a fantastic reputation and you can get anything Berkey at Directive 21. And if you've got money to burn, you can pick me up one while you're there! ;)

I'm taking some time off from blogging this week and next to enjoy the holidays and the family, so posts will be sporadic if they come at all. In the meantime, get off the computer and go enjoy some hot cocoa and a Christmas movie, or take the kids caroling, or whatever gets you in the Christmas spirit. :) And here's a song to get you started. Merry Christmas to you all!